10 strange foods trends that should die a quick, quiet death

Salad cake

Food stylist Mitsuki Moriyasu’s salad and cake hybrid has been trending on Japan’s food scene. These deceptive cakes are made with soybean flour, layered with tofu and vegetable frosting, and are supposedly healthy. A take off of this trend is Instagrammers covering veggies in savoury pate and setting it as a cake. No, just no.

Image: Vegedeco Salad/Mitsuki Style

Candy sushi

Seaweed, rice and raw fish are no longer quintessential to the preparation of sushi, it seems. The latest version of this popular dish is made using Rice Krispies and Fruit Roll-Ups. Looks like sushi, tastes like dessert. As much as we’re behind anything sweet, when a girl wants sushi, she wants sushi, not sugary cereal.

Image: Instagram.com/candysushinyc

Drinking vinegar

Once used as a preservative, drinking vinegars or shrubs are now making it big. The tart liquid is known to cause weight loss and lower blood sugar levels, and is now available in cool bottles that can be guzzled on-the-go.

Image: Instagram.com/mcclarybros

Black burger

Launched in Japan, Burger King’s black burgers have caused quite a stir since their inception. Not easy on the eye, these unusual buns are blackened using bamboo charcoal and squid-ink sauce. The fillings are similar to the regular ones, but the taste is highly smoky.

Image: Burger King

Insect smoothie

Who knew that conventional smoothie ingredients could be replaced with creepy crawlies? From crickets to bugs, people are grinding insects into a fine powder to make power-packed, nutritious smoothies. Dare to drink them before gym?

Image: Shutterstock

Frankenfoods

A mash-up of unusual ingredients, Frankenfoods will confuse your taste buds. These unusual concoctions—sushi burgers and dessert pizzas to name a few—are becoming increasingly popular on restaurant menus.

Image: Instagram.com/kokalazar

Breast milk ice cream

Yes, it’s true: a London-based restaurant called Icecreamists has been selling breast milk ice cream since 2013. Titled Baby Gaga, this peculiar combination of breast milk (donated by willing lactating women), vanilla pods and lemon zest is served in a martini glass, and can be paired with whisky or a cocktail if the trauma of eating human milk is too much.

Image: Breastmilk-FacebookPage/The Icecreamists

Black water

Supermarkets abroad are stocking their water aisles with this strange twist on H20. A murky mixture of spring water and fulvic acid, black water is considered highly nutritious and detoxifying. It looks pretty cool, but the taste is an acquired one.

Cannibis cuisine

The culinary use of marijuana is no longer limited to brownies. Food companies are looking to experiment with it in a range of products, such as pot-infused potato chips, pretzels and popcorn. Don’t expect it on Indian shelves any time soon.

Image: Shutterstock

Maggot cheese

Maggot cheese or casu marzu is a type of Sardinian cheese covered in live maggots. They say that the cheese has gone bad if the maggots die, but if you ask us, the fact that it’s infested with scavenging worms in the first place is enough reason to stay away.